Description
This module will explore how the Fascist period, including the Resistance and the Holocaust, have been remembered and interpreted in Italy since 1945. We will study how modes of remembrance, forgetting and commemoration have shifted and developed over the last 75 years and the role that Fascism has played and continues to play in Italian collective memory. Among the topics to be examined will be the myth of ‘italiani brava gente’ (Italians good people), the ‘difficult heritage’ of Fascist-era art and architecture which is ubiquitous in Italy and the rise of neo-Fascist political parties. We will consider how the Italian public has encountered the memory of Fascism since 1945 by studying its representation in cinema, exhibitions and museum displays. For comparative purposes, we will also study selected exhibitions about Fascism that have occurred outside of Italy and will examine how former the Italian colonies of Eritrea and Albania have confronted and managed the material legacies of the Fascist regime.Ìý
I would propose to teach this module in a mixture of English and Italian.Ìý
Indicative primary sourcesÌý
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ÌýPhotographs of Fascist-era architecture and memorials to victims of WW2 and the Holocaust;Ìý virtual tours of selected museumsÌý
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ÌýExhibition catalogues related to Fascist-era art, e.g. Arte moderna in Italia, 1915–1935 (Florence, 1967) and Gli anni trenta (Milan, 1982)Ìý
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ÌýPrimo Levi, I sommersi e i salvati (1986) / The Drowned and the Saved, trans. Raymond Rosenthal (Simon & Schuster, 2017)Ìý
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ÌýIgiaba Scego, ‘Il museo del fascismo a Predappio è sbagliato’, Internazionale, 5 March 2016Ìý
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Indicative secondary sourcesÌý
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ÌýAngelo Del Boca, Italiani brava gente? Un mito duro a morire (Neri Pozza, 2005)Ìý
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ÌýFrancesco Filippi, Ma perché siamo ancora fascisti? (Bollati Boringhieri, 2020)Ìý
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ÌýRobert S. Gordon, The Holocaust in Italian Culture, 1944–2010 (Stanford University Press, 2012)Ìý
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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